Birdhouse and bird-feeding device



Jan..8, 1946. D. B. HYDE BIRD HOUSE AND BIRD FEEDING DEVICE Filed April 21, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 8, 1946. HYDE 2,392,532

BIRD HOUSE AND BIRD FEEDING DEVICE Filed April 21, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 8, 1946. a Y E 2,392,532

BIRD HOUSE AND BIRD FEEDING DEV ICE Filed April 21, 1942 s Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Jan. 8, 1946 UNITED STAT'ES PATENT; OFFICE BIRDHOUSE D BIRD-:FEEDING Donald B. Hyde, NewtongMass.

Application April i 21, 1942; Serial .Nd. 439,806

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in a bird house and bird feeding device, particularly adevice which is convertible so that it'may be used either as a closed bird house or asan open bird .feeder.

'It is an object ofmy invention to construct a birdhouse'insuch a manner that it maybe readilyconverted' to an open bird feeder by removing the sides of the birdhouse and incorporating, if desired, food dispensing equipment for the birds.

"It 'is further an 'object of my invention to provide novel means for attaching the removable sides of the bird house to the body of the house whereby :said means'may be employed to secure the removable sides in one of two positions and mayalso be used after removal of thersides to attach the 'food dispensing equipment when the device is used as an'open bird feeder.

Itis furtheran object of my invention to construct the birdhouse with a glass'window on one sidewhich normally is covered by a removable wooden side of the house whereby the interior of the bird house maybe madevisible by moving thewooden side of the house to apposition in which the glass window is exposed.

A still further object of my invention is the provision of a bird house with novel means for mounting the bird house-whereby the house may bereadily fixed in position or removed therefrom.

Further objects and advantages of my improvements will be morereadily apparent from thefollowing description of preferred embodiments thereof as illustrated in the attached drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is' a perspective view of the convertible bird house and bird feeder'used' as a bird house;

Fig. 2 is a similar perspective view showing the bird house of Fig. 1 converted into a bird feeding device and having a rack for holding a cake of bird food;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the bird house shown in Fig. 1 looking towards the back thereof;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the plane indicated 4-4 in Fig. 3;

Fig. dis a fragmentary sectional view taken on theplane indicated 5-5 in Fig. 3 and shown in anenlarged'scale;

.Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken onithe planeindicated 66 in-Fig. 3 and shown in anenlarged scale Fig. 'Zis aperspective view illustrating one of the adapter plates having an opening therein which may be used to vary the size of the opening into the bird house as shown in Fig. 1; 1

Fig. 8 is a vertical'sectional view 2similarto Fig. 3 but illustrating a modification in whichone-of the-sides ofthe bird house is provided with .awindow so that theinteriorof the housemay be visible to the eye of an observer;

*Fig. 9 is asectional view taken on the plane indicated 99 in-Fig. -8;

r Fig. 10 is a "vertical sectional view similar to Fig; 3-but illustrating-a modification in which a seed holder and feeder has'been assembled-with the birdieeding device; and Y -Fig.'-1-1 is a sectional view taken indicated Hllin Fig. 10. I

The improvedbird house and bird feeder disclosed and described herein is .designedfor ready on the plane .conversion toadapt it for use invarious ways so that it .may serve asa bird house in which-birds may builda nest,.in one form of which a side of the bird house has a-window so that an observer verted into'an open bird feeder by removing the sides from the bird house, and when used as a feeder it may beadapted to hold acake of bird food in a removable rack or to hold aseed feeder which may be. removably assembledawithin the frame of the birdhouse. Y

The bird house is designed to becheaply manufactured principally .frOm wood, The main frame or body of the bird house comprises the floor it), the front side l2, the .rearsidejM and the'pitched roof 16. In order to mount the bird housethe wood strip!!! is attached to the back of the rear side [4 and ,is'provided with slots ZllJat the upper and lower ends thereof adapted to receive the L-shaped screws 22 which are fastened to any suitable support. It will be understood that the bird house may'be readily demounted by turningthe screws 22 from the position shown in Fig. 1 so that the headset the screws may pass through the slots 2E). The vertical marginal edges of'the front and rear sides l2 and M- are channeledto'leave the'lips"24 at the edges of the front side lz and the 1ips'26 at the edges of the rear side-M. These lips 24 and 25 overlap the edges of the removable side panels 28 and 30 as shown in Fig. 4. "The sides 28 and "'30 are somewhat narrower in width than the space-between :the lips '24 and 26 whereby expansion of the 'sides "28 and -30 "will not cause pressure against" the lips?! andZG.

I have devised a novel means of securing the ton of the bird house.

As shown in Fig. 3 horizontal slots 32 arecut in the inner surfaces of the front and rear sides l2 and I4 and internally threaded metal sockets 34 are fixed within the slots or grooves 32 by the U-shaped staples 36 and 3B. The staple 36 may extend over thesocket as shown in Fig. 8 while the otherstaple 38 passes through an openin '40 at the inner end of the socket 34 and thereby serves to holdthe innerend of the socket. The

panels 28 and 30 are attachedby the machine screws 42 which extend through openings in the marginal edges of the panels 28 and 30 and thread into the metal sockets 34. The metal sockets 34 are intended to be held by the staples 36 and 38 toprevent displacement but with some slight freedom of movement so that the screw 42 may 7 move the socket into exact alignment as it is thr aded into place. V r r When the device is used in the form of a closed bird house. it is desirable to provide for ventila tion of the interior-of the house and this is accompli hed as shown in Fig. 3 by making the floor l somewhat narrower in width than the space between the sides 28 and 30 thus leaving the openings 44 throu h which air may pass into the interior of the bird house as shown by the arrow in Fig. 3. Similarly the sides are cut to I terminate short of the roof lB leaving the o enings "through which air maypass out from the As. shown in Fig. 3 the sides 28 and 30 extend somewhat below the bottom of the floor piece In and thereby protect the j openings a ainst entrance of snow and rain.

The birds may enter the house through the o ening 48 near the top of the front, side]! as shown in Fig. 1. The opening is the largest opening that would be used. If the bird house is er plates 50 or 52could be placed over the openthe opening 48 andthat' the plate 52 similarly has an opening 56 which is still smaller- These 7 adapter plates 50 and 52 may be secured to the H! has been assembled to rest on the floor Ill. The feeding tray is secured in position by the same screws 42 that are used to fasten the removable side panel 30. The tray has several upright pins 12 which serve to confine and hold in upright position a bottle or container 14 from which bird seed 16 is delivered to the tray 10. The mouth of the bottle or container may be spaced from the floor of the tray by the rest member 18 to allow the seed to flow from the inverted bottle The bird house, as previously stated, is made essentially of wood parts. Nails are required to fasten the floor and roof to the front and rear walls and to attach the mounting strip; and the metal machine screws and socket members constitute the novel fastening means for securing V the removable side panels. The wooden parts'areside panels. The provision of the permanently to be restricted to smaller birds. one of the adapting as, It will be noted that the plate so has an opening 54 which isv somewhat smaller than bottom of the bird house. 'by'thescrews 58 as shown in Fig. 4 until theyneed to be used; j.

.Figs. 8 and 9 disclose a modified form of bird 5 house which in general is constructed the. same as in Figs. 1 and .3 but in addition provision is made for a'removable glass window 60 which fits at the sides in slots 62 cut in the side strips 64.

' The strips 64 are fixed to the inside faces of the front l2 and back 14. The glass window is held against dropping out by the stop 66 which is adiustably fixed in position' by thescrew 68 threaded into the floor part ID of the birdhouse. The removable side pane130 may be placed in positionas shown in Fig. 1 thereby covering up 5 the window 60 while the nest'is being built by the birds. Thereafter the side 30 may be: removed'or attached as shown in Fig. 8 in which the screws 42 fasten thetop portion of the side 30 to the lower half of the bird house thereby exposing the window 60. The panels 28 and 30 and the window 60 may be removed if desired to convert the bird house to an open feeder as shown in Fig.2;

The closed bird house maybe convertedjto an open feederas shown in Figs. 10 and 11' inwhich the sideshavebeen removed and a feeding tray fixed internally threaded socket members makes food holding means. It should be. noted that the side walls extend downwardly beyond the underneath surface of the floor. This overlapping tends to prevent snow or rain from being blown into the bird house through the ventilating openings, and also prevents'the formation of icicleson the bottom of the bird house as the water, will readily drop off the bottom edges of the side Walls.

The provision of the adapter plates is avery useful feature since certain birds will only enter bird houses having a particular'size hole or opening. If it is desired to attract birds of'a'cer- 'tain variety, the propersize of opening is se-. lected for the birds to .enter'the'house. j The bird house may be used by one variety of birds one season and by another variety of birds another season, thereby making it unnecessary to have a plurality of bird houses with different holes. The ventilating openings also aid in causing the birds to use the house since the birds may be afraid to enter the house unless they can see openings admit The ventilating the house;

the interior. light to the interior of .I claim: 7 V A bird house comprising front and rearfwalls, a floor extending between said front and'rear walls, a roof fixed to the upper ends of said front and rear walls, said front wall having an opening'to admit'birds'to the interior of saidbird house, said bird house having removable side wall members, said side wall members fitting tightly against said front and rear walls, said ,floor being narrower in width than the distance between-said side walls whereby ventilating openingsare provided to admit, air into; the bird house between said floor and said sidewalls, said bird house. also having ventilating openings between the upper 

